Shopping Discussion

ebay collections... how far do they take it?

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Deal Addict
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Feb 8, 2006
3786 posts
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Montreal

ebay collections... how far do they take it?

Anyone deal with ebay collections yet? Thus far they are only threatening to remove my selling privileges, which honestly, I don't care about.

They don't seem to hint that further delay in making payments will lead to a collection agency or other consequences. Anyone dealt with them before in such a situation? Do they take it futher?


Let's keep the responses objective please. I got a chargeback scam and I don't intend to give them a dime. The buyer recieved the item and is asking for help on using the item on forums, using the same name as his ebay name. I'm not giving ebay a dime, they are stupid. They automatically rule in the buyer's favor even if he's zero feedback from a 3rd world country, and with outstanding evidence of shady transactions.
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19 replies
Deal Addict
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Nov 10, 2005
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Farm
they will take it to a collection agency.

but you should try speaking with eBay help.. i've had success speaking with them and getting credits to my account quickly.
Deal Guru
Aug 14, 2007
12807 posts
3837 upvotes
--
I had a guy do a buy it now on an item unsold on their, then he tried running the classic Nigerian scam on me (fake escrow site one) and eBay charged me like $8 and wouldn't credit me back even though that happened. Needless to say I removed my cc and bank from paypal and NEVER used eBay again. Never got a collections call...


How much do you owe them is the question...

cloneman wrote: Anyone deal with ebay collections yet? Thus far they are only threatening to remove my selling privileges, which honestly, I don't care about.

They don't seem to hint that further delay in making payments will lead to a collection agency or other consequences. Anyone dealt with them before in such a situation? Do they take it futher?


Let's keep the responses objective please. I got a chargeback scam and I don't intend to give them a dime. The buyer recieved the item and is asking for help on using the item on forums, using the same name as his ebay name. I'm not giving ebay a dime, they are stupid. They automatically rule in the buyer's favor even if he's zero feedback from a 3rd world country, and with outstanding evidence of shady transactions.
Deal Addict
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Feb 8, 2006
3786 posts
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Montreal
I owe them 400 USD. They refunded the buyer, and now are trying to collect from me. They've rejected my appeal, and their stupid form never had any method of uploading evidence to add to the case (other than plaintext)
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Deal Fanatic
Mar 21, 2002
6826 posts
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Manitoba
Well, you asked for objective responses, not sympathy, so here it is:

eBay rules are very clear. The only proof of delivery they accept is a W/B # with an online Post Office look up showing that delivery has been completed. Any other kind of proof you have will not be looked at or considered. It's not a question of fairness (which eBay isn't, but that's irrelevant since you're playing in their sandbox), it's a question of understanding and living by their rules. Presumably you shipped without any kind of tracking, and presumably no insurance, rather risky considering the value of the item. You also allowed a buyer from a "3rd world country" to bid on the item which was extremely foolish because of the much higher risk of fraud from some countries outside of Canada/USA. Bottom line you're in the mess you're in because of your own careless actions, not eBay's.

Now as far as the current situation, you owe $400 and they will almost certainly send that to a collections agency (do a Google search on "ebay collections agency") which means some unpleasant phone calls for you and a possible black mark on your credit rating which could affect you in future for a mortgage or car loan. Plus of course you'll never be able to buy or sell on eBay again. Now, if you're 60 years old none of this may matter to you and you can laugh at eBay, but if you're only 20 this could cause a lot of grief for you in the future and so you have to think about that in deciding what to do.
Jr. Member
Jan 3, 2010
120 posts
15 upvotes
If you go to the eBay Trust & Safety forums the users there are very helpful at directing you through the appropriate steps. Beyond appeal I don't know what can be done, but I do know a couple of posters have connections with some eBay employees - they'll give you the e-mail address of a specific person who can probably help you a lot more than some random CSR, even at the appeals level. Don't give up on making this right - and I know people have been helped before through this method.

Furthermore, if your eBay and Paypal accounts are linked (which they typically are) and the refund was pulled directly from your Paypal account you won't be able to use that account anymore. IF you do, or IF you have any subscriptions already authorized, the full amount that you owe them will be taken out. They can't debit your bank or credit card without authorization... but if you authorize them to pay someone $5 from your bank account, and you owe them $400 already, their TOS permits them to attach that amount to the authorized withdrawal. So cancel any Paypal-based subscriptions. You can't remove your banking and credit card information from your account, but you can close the account and open a new one just to be safe (though most will tell you to always keep your Paypal account away from your day-to-day banking accounts.)

From what I understand they will hound you, you will get collection calls, and they will report it to agencies to reflect on your credit score. I haven't heard anyone who has been taken to court or gotten garnishment orders, so I don't know how far they're willing to take it. Remember - eBay can't usually find the scammers, so they'll go after the guaranteed method of getting their money back == you. You're not the first, nor the last. But hopefully you learn how to navigate this f**kery and get your money back.

Also, screen capture EVERYTHING. Every post the theif made, every communication. Since you no longer have the $$ and he has the item, report him to the USPS for mail fraud. Report it to your local police, who will then send it to his locality. Even if they say it's civil, INSIST that they take the report. It's theft and fraud, and those are both criminal actions. And it's probably a pattern of behaviour. Besides, at least this way you have a paper trail. And a call or visit by his local PD may urge him into making ammends.

Good luck. Let us know how this turns out.
Sr. Member
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Apr 21, 2009
949 posts
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Winnipeg
+1 woof

one of the best responses I've read in a long time.
--- <3

:cry: Personally, I am just scared of Idiocracy turning from a funny movie into a prophecy. :confused:
Jr. Member
Jan 3, 2010
120 posts
15 upvotes
woof wrote: Presumably you shipped without any kind of tracking, and presumably no insurance, rather risky considering the value of the item. You also allowed a buyer from a "3rd world country" to bid on the item which was extremely foolish because of the much higher risk of fraud from some countries outside of Canada/USA. Bottom line you're in the mess you're in because of your own careless actions, not eBay's.
Not necessarily. It's possible, and -- if so -- then the seller is certainly at fault. Doesn't mean he should eat the loss without a fight though.

Under eBay/Paypal rules you need to be able to provide online proof of delivery confirmation. BUT, if the total of the payment received is more than $250 USD, you need to provide SIGNATURE confirmation. Many people miss this stipulation. So even if the OP has online delivery confirmation, if there's no signature eBay and Paypal will consider that it's not enough. (And, if you've ever sent something FedEX or UPS and tried to request a signature, you probably know that they frequently "forget", or just scrawl some random signature of the driver and leave it on a porch. Not sure about USPS, but Canada Post isn't always reliable for signature confirmation either.)
Deal Guru
Aug 14, 2007
12807 posts
3837 upvotes
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celtic-redhead wrote: Not necessarily. It's possible, and -- if so -- then the seller is certainly at fault. Doesn't mean he should eat the loss without a fight though.

Under eBay/Paypal rules you need to be able to provide online proof of delivery confirmation. BUT, if the total of the payment received is more than $250 USD, you need to provide SIGNATURE confirmation. Many people miss this stipulation. So even if the OP has online delivery confirmation, if there's no signature eBay and Paypal will consider that it's not enough. (And, if you've ever sent something FedEX or UPS and tried to request a signature, you probably know that they frequently "forget", or just scrawl some random signature of the driver and leave it on a porch. Not sure about USPS, but Canada Post isn't always reliable for signature confirmation either.)

I got burned once because CP forgot to get a signature.

Also, their insurance means nothing, I had a $500 item get damaged and they claimed it was my fault on ****** packing, but hell no it wasn't ****** packing it was them throwing the box around in their sorting facility...
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Feb 8, 2006
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Montreal
I've already received my 130$ from Canada post (since obviously, they couldn't track it either).

Obviously I've learned not to ship, even when I have the money, without tracking. The problem I have is that when using ebay's shipping tool, they don't make it clear which services have tracking, and which services do not have tracking. In fact, they send you an email, saying "here is your tracking number" when in fact, the number they provide isn't a tracking number at all, it's a reference number that doesn't provide tracking.

Ultimately I took a risk, the choice was between shipping an item at 35$ (100$insurance, no tracking), or spending 250$ (!) for a trackable method. That's right, Canada post has no services to that country that are trackable for under 200$.

The fact that ebay's shipping tool doesn't inform you that no tracking is available with certain services when you use their tool (or worse, misleads you into thinking there is tracking) is the main frustrating issue about this case.

Anyway, since I'm well versed in such matters, I knew to begin with that there would be no tracking, something the Canada Post employees I spoke with were unaware of. According to them, the lack of tracking was a "a strange problem with the system for this particular shipment".

Anyway, all of the above is just background info that I believe people should be aware of, I'm not going to use it in my case, because it's all just a bunch of details.

Where I take issue with ebay is

(1) dispute form with no option to upload evidence
(2) Automatic ruling for the buyer, even at zero-feedback. ---> Should trigger some alarm bells somewhere rather than an automatic victory for the buyer.
(3) Emails from the buyer insisting on discounted shipping & lowered declared values provided no incentive to delay the case by ebay (did they even read my argument?)

(4) Like many lazy programmers, the ebay form doesn't convert plain text carriage returns to html line breaks. Any attempt at formatting your case details in a human pleasant format is lost.

that last one is just a personal pet peave.
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Deal Fanatic
Mar 21, 2002
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Manitoba
cloneman wrote: Where I take issue with ebay is

(1) dispute form with no option to upload evidence
(2) Automatic ruling for the buyer, even at zero-feedback. ---> Should trigger some alarm bells somewhere rather than an automatic victory for the buyer.
(3) Emails from the buyer insisting on discounted shipping & lowered declared values provided no incentive to delay the case by ebay (did they even read my argument?)

1. Yeah this is fairly common with eBay. eg if you want to report a seller who's selling counterfeits there is no method whatsoever allowing you to upload any evidence. You get to provide a brief text descriptive "proof" which will of course automatically be ignored anyways (eBay will only take action against sellers pushing counterfeits if the original manufacturer complains).

2. Yup, you're right. But this is against eBay's current policy that the buyer - even if he is an outright crook - is a God and must be satisfied.

3. Did they even read your argument? Probably not. It's important to remember that eBay's rules are black and white and rigidly enforced. Their rules have nothing whatsoever to do with "right and wrong". They're not interested in reading a "right and wrong" argument from you.

For the large amount of money involved it is worth trying to fight them on this but emails are too easy for them to ignore. Try phoning them. Realistically though since they have already given the money back to the buyer - and they're never going to get it back from him - to take your side now would mean they would have to eat the loss. Hell would have to freeze over before that happens.
Deal Addict
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Jul 26, 2004
1281 posts
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Vancouver
I'm in the exact same situation. These guys are hilarious.

They refunded my buyer, asked me to re-imburse them and then they charged me the final value fee! Lol

I appealed using their crap resolution center and they brushed me aside.... (did ship in a click so I had the labels and receipt too.)

Anyhow I took them to small claims court and asked for punitive damages too.

I shipped the item, and if the buyer lies and says he didn't get it, my response is call the post office. If ebay wants to arbitrarily hand out refunds against my approval. -- they can do it on their dime.

Hopefully their collections department calls me and I'll sue them again. Gotta vote with your wallet with these guys.

Anyhow, I don't think anyone has ever sued them in small claims, so people should do it more. Cost them a bit of money in legal fees and judgements against them.
Deal Addict
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Feb 8, 2006
3786 posts
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Montreal
haha, glad you bumped this thread.
Sometimes, listening to people's advice in the internet, however well-spoken/well-informed they may be, does not pay off.

I decided to risk it, and never paid them. ebay sends me a collection "payment reminder" email every week since then (a little gmail filter takes care of that ;P)

They never threatened collections, their threat is "you may be restricted from selling in the future" LOL. A lot time has passed it's safe to say I'm okay at this point.

The major inconvenience for me was opening a new ebay account and gaining new feedbacks.

It's entirely possible the buyer never received the shipment. However, 2 months later, he was posted in cyanogenmod forums asking how to root the phone he had "never received". I wonder how likely it is that he obtained a Canadian phone in his country, from a local seller, a.k.a. without using ebay?

In any case, I'm coming out ahead in this case and ebay ate the loss. Is it because my account was in excellent standing with over 100 feedbacks? Because I had a US bank account and I'm canadian? Who knows why they didn't take it further. To anyone who's been affected in a similar matter, if your account has no value to you and the amount is high, I suggest chancing it. You can always pay the collection agency and maintain your credit, IF it gets there.

As for ebay, they really need full disclosure on their shipping tools as which methods offer tracking or not, and a description of the burdens that places on the seller.
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Deal Addict
Jan 30, 2011
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Just realized this was posted in 2011.

But, if I unlink my PayPal account from eBay. Can eBay get access to my account? If something like this was to happen to me.
Deal Addict
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Feb 8, 2006
3786 posts
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Montreal
ebay doesn't seem to be allowed to withdraw money from any account without your permission. They just "Ask" you to pay them, and may or may not take further collections actions, such as hiring a third party to get the funds from you (which have the ability to lower your score IF you don't pay). At least, this is my impression.

You could remove your bank account and credit card from paypal, but that also potentially makes you look guilty.
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Banned
User avatar
Sep 16, 2010
843 posts
79 upvotes
GTA
you cannot remove the only active card you have on your account. it will tell you that you are unable to remove the card on the account.... you can add a new card and then delete the original one, so i would just use an old used up pre-paid card.

other than that you would have to delete your whole account and create a new one.
Newbie
Feb 27, 2006
52 posts
3 upvotes
I had this happen to me
Ebay will send to a collection agency. But most of the time, collection agencies cannot validate this debt
I just sent them a letter to validate the debt and never heard back from them.
Therefore, it is highly unlikely that your credit rating would get affected
Newbie
Aug 18, 2016
1 posts
1 upvote
eBay will not and cannot effect your credit. They will tell you this but in reality with no sin or ssn they're not considered real. These charges are no genuine or in a credit sense. They could be scamming charges. Items people kept and didn't return. Items buyers never paid for. There's a grey area and for that reason they cannot effect your credit. They'll use a half ass credit company to hound you. That's all they can do. Period.
Newbie
Jan 19, 2017
1 posts
1 upvote
Made an account just to say thanks for the update OP, and the info from everyone else. I'm going through the exact same thing...sold a laptop, guy scammed me, ebay ignored my report and gave the guy a refund. Want me to pay $600. Not a chance.

What's really shitty is $60 of that is seller fees. I'm not paying $60 in seller fees for something they gave the **** guy a refund for. Outrageous.
Newbie
May 21, 2019
1 posts
HI, I am in a very bad situation with eBay and owe them over 500$ for a return that I never received...All the employees Ive talked to don't want to break any barriers to help me out even though they completely understand I have been screwed over. Can you please email me: tanderson8172@gmail.com if you have someone at Ebay, particularly an American so I can understand them who might be able to help me out. Thank you!

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